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The End of an Era in Christchurch

Nigel Gray

Nigel Gray

Senior Member
Its my sad duty to report the end of an era for anglers who have fished the Royalty, Throop and Christchurch Harbour and enjoyed the hospitality of the Royalty Inn on Bargates.

Don finally gave up the fight with those ****'* at Punch and the pub closed tonight with no known future.

We all know the pub had been struggling for a while and, when the choice of beer became limited, people stopped drinking there, me included. Some stayed loyal and occasionally there were enough anglers in the public bar to remind us that fishing was the subject of literally thousands of barbel fishing tales that have been told within the walls of this famous old boozer.

We raised a glass tonight to all those thousands of anglers who, over the years, have made the pilgrimage to Christchurch in the hope of catching a barbel and spent the evening telling one and all of their success or failure in the Royalty Inn (or for those of my age, the Red Lion)
 
Very sad to hear Nigel. I've spent many an evening in there whilst staying at Joe and Tina's old place, Royalty view guest house before moving down in 2002. I am sure this pub will be sadly missed by many. I hope that it re opens soon.
Good luck to Don.

Regards John.
 
Sad news indeed, had many a session in there over the years and met many of my Christchurch friends fishing and social. Happy days!

All the best to Don.
 
Hi Nigel any chance of getting the pub sign with Jack Harrigan on?
He used to run Judds the local tackle shop on the Uxbridge road at Hayes.

It would go well in my garden.:)

I stayed at the pub just the once ,food was o.k though.

As you said great place for recalling the days fishy stories.

Micky
 
When I was 17 I went for a week to the Royalty with a mate in our summer hols staying at a local B&B and in the evening we enjoyed a few (underage) pints of Badger bitter in that pub. Sure it was the Red Lion then.

Remember the old fellas playing on the slate Shove H'apenny boards and showing us how to do it.

Shame for the current landlord hope he comes out of it OK.
 
And what of the chain and sign from the Parlour pool?

Like many, I was down there all the time throughout the 80's and 90's. A shame is what it is, some good nights.
 
That's very sad news Nigel.
I went in there last Autumn - it was empty and the only beer they had was a bitter poured from a box.
Couldn't work out what had happened - what's this with Punch?
Had many great evenings at the Royalty Inn - happy memories indeed.
Great shame :(
 
Mick Holtom said:
Hi Nigel any chance of getting the pub sign with Jack Harrigan on?
He used to run Judds the local tackle shop on the Uxbridge road at Hayes.

It would go well in my garden.:)

I stayed at the pub just the once ,food was o.k though.

As you said great place for recalling the days fishy stories.

Micky
Click to expand...
SIGN.JPG
judds might want that....:D
 
Tony Rocca said:
And what of the chain and sign from the Parlour pool?

Like many, I was down there all the time throughout the 80's and 90's. A shame is what it is, some good nights.
Click to expand...

The fishery signs have been acquired for the Royalty Rod Room thankfully.
 
I am at a bit of a loss here, as to what exactly is going on. I have fished the Royalty quite a number of times over a period of many years, and downed a few pints in the the pub in question, but I can certainly not claim to be a regular or know much about the situation here.

I thought I gathered from Nigel's first post that the Royalty Inn was closing down...that was it. Then Micky enquired about the sign from the Inn, which I understood....but then Tony asked after the chain and sign from the parlour pool...which I assume was the one draped/hanging across the face of the bridge on the pool, which fishermen used to haul the boat across the face of the bridge.

Now we have Nigel saying the the 'fishery signs' have been acquired by the 'Royalty Rod Room'....whatever that is. So, I am puzzled, my lack of local knowledge has left me struggling. What exactly is closing down....and why?

Cheers, Dave.
 
The Royalty Inn closed last night for financial reasons and Don who has run the place for 21 years has gone. In there were a few signs that were originally from the Royalty Fishery (no fishing above this sign/the playing of radios is strictly forbidden/the sea trout measure from the Bridge Pool punt) which adorned the walls.

The Rod Room on the Royalty is something of a museum these days and the signs will now be displayed in there along with all the other memorabilia. It's location is the old bailiffs room opposite the footbridge and is somewhere where anglers can take a rest if they so desire.

I hope that clears it up David.
 
Reading between the lines the Royalty Inn was a Punch owned premises. The landlord probably signed up for a lease agreement under which rent was paid and then compelled them to buy Beer and possibly wines and spirits from Punch at a premium over normal market rates.

If the Royalty was not tuning over the volume of sales then then rot would have set in with the ongoing rent still needing to be paid but nothing coming in over the bar to pay it, leaving the landlord with little option but to lock the door and handover the keys.

It's a sadly common theme throughout the country, the blame often being cited as one or a combination of; the smoking ban, tie agreements (as above), tax rises, cheap supermarket booze.

Before long the concept of a village local will be a dim and distant memory for most.

regards
Richard
 
A very sad day indeed! i have been staying at the royalty inn for at least 20 years! had some great times and dons breakfasts were brilliant!. Sadly business had taken a marked downturn and the pub had been struggling for a while. End of an era indeed, i remember it as the spud pub from years ago with the largest selection of jacket potatoes you will ever see!. I would expect it will be turned into flats as that seems to be the way of things now!:(:(
 
Barry Garwood said:
A very sad day indeed! i have been staying at the royalty inn for at least 20 years! had some great times and dons breakfasts were brilliant!. Sadly business had taken a marked downturn and the pub had been struggling for a while. End of an era indeed, i remember it as the spud pub from years ago with the largest selection of jacket potatoes you will ever see!. I would expect it will be turned into flats as that seems to be the way of things now!:(:(
Click to expand...
or a cheap branded restaurant which can afford to run at a loss.
 
Nigel Gray said:
The Royalty Inn closed last night for financial reasons and Don who has run the place for 21 years has gone. In there were a few signs that were originally from the Royalty Fishery (no fishing above this sign/the playing of radios is strictly forbidden/the sea trout measure from the Bridge Pool punt) which adorned the walls.

The Rod Room on the Royalty is something of a museum these days and the signs will now be displayed in there along with all the other memorabilia. It's location is the old bailiffs room opposite the footbridge and is somewhere where anglers can take a rest if they so desire.

I hope that clears it up David.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for that Nigel....I had a horrible feeling for a minute there that the fishery had closed down as well :eek: Got the old ticker going :D

Can't remember where we got the tickets from when I was first fished there (Probably between forty and fifty years ago). However, much later on I do remember making the steep climb up the steps to the little shed up the top of the garden...to be rewarded by a growl :D. More recently, the shop has been a much easier and more pleasant place to buy your tickets altogether...and you even get a smile :p

More memories of the past pop in to my mind as I type... I recall having an epic haul from watersmeet a good few years back, on maggot feeder, and the maggots you had then were about the size of a small labrador. Lord knows where you were getting them from in those days, but I have never seen the like before or since :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
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The Royalty Inn played a big part in my early pilgramiges to Christchurch with a likeminded bunch of mates. As a previous post mentioned, I too remember it as the spud pub, run by Adrian [I think ?]. The beer was never as good as the Castle, but the grub and the chance to rub shoulders with other anglers was great. There used to be plenty of fishy photos adorning the walls, and some of my fishing buddies were amongst them.
Started there in 1978, staying at the Belveirdere, then at Joe and Tina's until we moved on to Ringwood in the late nineties.
Nothing lasts for ever,..some of the original gang now fish on the Severn, but when we meet up we still recall those many happy memories at Chistchurch that will always remain a fantastic part of our angling careers.
They will all be sad to hear that the pub has closed.
 
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Sadly, I missed the last weekend in the pub but did manage to get a couple of fish the week before. Many happy memories, good times and good laughs as well as a few well celebrated PB's and the odd wind up. I also learned quite a bit about barbel fishing from sages such as Nigel and Brian Wilson among others. (Barry, if you're reading this, i never learned anything other than how to deal with heavy drinking and the subsequent cloudy head from yourself)! Not that I can post here anyway!!!

Who's in for the end of season curry this year? The Indian Tree in Ringwood has been mooted. All welcome but numbers will be limited. First come first served!

Count me and Cat in.

Date will be Saturday 9th March.

Nigel, are you taking the bookings, deposits again?
 
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